How to Ensure a Successful Health Care Systems Implementation - Recorded Webinar

RECORDED: Access recorded version only for one participant; unlimited viewing for 6 months (Access information will be emailed 24 hours after the completion of payment)

SPEAKER: Jim Wener

OVERVIEW:
The presentation takes the participant through the steps needed to ensure a successful health care computer system implementation. Once presented the participant will see the logic of the tools and processes and be able to apply them to their system implementation. The tools and processes presented in this material have been developed by implementing health care systems for over 40 years and seeing what has worked and WHY it has worked. These tools and processes have been equally and successfully applied to the implementation of large, complex systems and smaller, simpler systems for large, multidepartment organizations and for small health care organizations.

To establish viable project expectations, the presentation addresses the need for bringing all of the stakeholders (organization owners, providers and management, operations staff, IT staff and the vendor) into establishing common and realizable expectations. These are reviewed in context of the organization's current environment and its short and long term goals and are considered as a critical part of the implementation completion process. In the case of turning around an already troubled or failed system implementation, the process emphasizes the tasks of reassessing the project stakeholder expectations - why they decided the system would help the organization and what they expected to get from the system.

Next the process shows the participant how to convert these expectations to realistic and measurable project success metrics. The process focuses on learning how to separate "so what" metrics from meaningful and measurable metrics. In addition, the process provides direction regarding how to establish tools and processes to capture and report the metrics so that ALL stakeholders can monitor the progress of the health care system implementation.

Problems arise in every project. Whether they be in difficulties in the system performing as expected, or conflicts in management, provider staff, the internal IT team and/or the vendor ability to complete their tasks. This can because of not having time to devote to the system implementation, the demands of daily responsibilities, the lack of training or skill sets needed for the implementation or conflicts in resource allocation. The presentation takes the participant through the steps needed to remediate these problems and maintain the continuity of the implementation process.

All projects require a plan. The presentation describes the role of the implementation planning process and how to prepare the plan. The presentation emphasizes that the project plan is an ever changing document and that the purpose of the project is not to develop and manage the plan, but to use the plan as a tool for successfully completing the implementation and realizing the desired benefits.

And the presentation takes the participant through the steps needed to monitor the progress of the project and how respond when the project goes off plan. The presentation addresses how to address deviations in the implementation plan and how to respond with actions in getting the project back on track.

Why should you attend: Everyone has heard the horror stories of computer system implementations that have gone wrong. The goal is to learn from the mistakes made by those health care organizations and to take advantage of the processes that avoid those problems and repeatedly lead to successful implementations.

Large and small health care organizations invest considerable time, effort and money in considering the potential benefits of a new system and selecting the "right" system. The decision is important. And the proper execution of the implementation is critical. An effectively implemented computer system has the potential to be a great benefit to a health care organization. On the other hand, a disastrous computer system implementation can cause considerable difficulties for the organization in provider and staff frustration, organizational efficiency losses, costs to provide care, conflicts with the system vendor and likely the quality of care that is provided.

The tools and processes for planning for a successful implementation are the same as those needed and have been successfully used to reverse a failed system implementation. The difference is their sequence and the sense of urgency.

The tools and processes provided in this course have been used successfully in implementing health care computer systems for over 40 years - they have been used in the real world to successfully implement health care computer systems and … to turn around failed health care system implementations. This presentation discusses why they work.

Areas Covered in the Session:
- The attributes of a successful system implementation
- Why implementations fail and how to avoid these problems
- How to develop successful implementation expectations by all stakeholders
- How to convert the successful implementation expectations into measurable metrics
- Establishing project plans - identifying the resources needed for the project and scheduling tasks
- What is good data and the role of the conversion process
- Developing manual support procedures
- How to establish processes for addressing problems and conflicts that occur during the project
- How to monitor the progress of the project and identify when problems occur and have processes for addressing the problems
- System testing and validation
- The role out - live use of the system - actual startup
- How to know when the project is completed
- How to apply these processes to a system implementation that has failed

SPEAKER PROFILE:
Jim Wener has over 40 years of experience in assisting health care organizations – both providers and payers- in identifying their automation requirements and helping these organizations select and successfully implement the automation most applicable for their needs. His systems and processes background and his experience in working with health care data has given Mr. Wener a unique perspective regarding the issues related to implementing new health care models and how they affect all of the stakeholders in the health care system.

In working with health care organizations he has developed processes and procedures related to improving the provision of health care services, measuring the outcomes of those services and the addressing the impact of these factors on the reimbursement models. He has lead the effort for developing an ACO to serve Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries and has presented this course as a reference for participants at a recent Healthcare Financial Management Association National Conference.

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